Non-flying European holidays this summer - where??

[CocktailQueen]

Ideas so far are train to Switzerland or car to Holland and Belgium, and hire self-catering apartments. has anyone done either of these and can you recommend anything? I don't like flying so don't want to fly.

We haven't been on a flying holiday with the dc so are used to packing the car and taking the world with us! Have done France several times so would prefer something different.

Thanks!

How far are you happy to drive once you get to France?

Denmark is top of my list when we get a few ££ together. Few days at Legoland and in Copenagen then a week at the beach.

Would you consider an overnight train? We love them, and always use them to get to Italy, where we go quite often as ILs have an apartment there. Look at seat61.com and you will realise that Europe is your oyster.

Flying always seems so crass once you've been by train - on the train, the journey is part of the holiday!

Ditto overnight train. You can put car on train to get to lots of European cities. South of France is £££££ beautiful. I love it there.

we are driving down to the languedoc in may for a couple of weeks, stopping off overnight in the charente each way to break up the drive

Place marking! DD is still young and I'm lazy so I struggle to travel light. Beibg able to take our car would be fantastic!

How old are your dc. Duinrell is fab ( holland)

Thanks! Have decide t get the train to carcassone and then on to Barcelona, n
Booking. White in carcassonne, hiring a car there, thnr a villa near Barcelona... Looking for travel agent recs as one travel agent said to me that SNCF Voyages train travel isn't covered by aBTA so if french train staff strike this summer we may not be covered if we fail to reach our accommondation..

Dc are 11 and 7 and it will be our first non-car holiday!!

Ohhh! Carcassonne is lovely - be sure to look round it before haring off to Spain.

Yes, I know OP has decided, but for other people.....

DH persuaded us to take the overnight (now discontinued) DFDS ferry from Harwich to Denmark. Legoland was about a 45 minute drive from Esbjerg and the roads are pretty empty compared to the UK.
There is a nice "Centrparcs-like" place opposite called Lalandia. It was useful to be able to take our bikes and plenty of gear.

I would also consider the ferry over to Holland. DD (7) continues to rave about last year's trip to de Efteling which we combined with a bit of touring/Youth Hosteling. I've heard good things about Duinrell.

Plan to book a gite for a week in Carcassonne, Tywy...

Thanks, mad cats, will look into that. :)

We've been to Duinrell in Holland also. It's got a theme park adjacent to it, which is great for kids.

Center Parcs abroad are also worth considering. We used them as a base for exploring the country. They are cheaper than the British ones.

Or Scotland, Ireland, Isle of man